A climatic data element is a measured parameter that helps to specify the climate of a specific location or region, such as precipitation, temperature, wind speed, and humidity.
In the below discussion, we will discuss how climate change affects food security around the world and causes an increase in poverty, hunger, and society’s crimes. Climate change like floods, earthquakes, rainfall, humidity, and temperature increases are the main issues of present agriculture production that contribute to affecting food security around the world.
Climate is the average weather in a given area over a longer period of time. A description of a climate includes information on, e.g., the average temperature in different seasons, rainfall, and sunshine. Also, a description of the extremes is often included. Part of the Hall of Planet Earth. Energy from the sun drives climate by heating Earth’s surface unevenly.
Ice also reflects incoming sunlight, cooling the poles even more. The temperature difference sets the ocean and atmosphere in motion as they work together to distribute heat around the planet.
A climatic data element is a measured parameter that helps to specify the climate of a specific location or region, such as precipitation, temperature, wind speed, and humidity.
How does the climate change?
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the solar cycle. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas.
Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures. Examples of greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change include carbon dioxide and methane.
These come from using gasoline to drive a car or coal to heat a building, for example. Clearing land and forests can also release carbon dioxide. Landfills for garbage are a major source of methane emissions. Energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture, and land use are among the main emitters.
Greenhouse gas concentrations are at their highest levels in 2 million years
And emissions continue to rise. As a result, the Earth is now about 1.1°C warmer than it was in the late 1800s. The last decade (2011–2020) was the warmest on record. Many people think climate change mainly means warmer temperatures.
But the temperature rise is only the beginning of the story. Because the Earth is a system where everything is connected, changes in one area can influence changes in all others.
The consequences of climate change now include, among others, intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms, and declining biodiversity. The Earth is asking for help.
People are experiencing climate change in diverse ways
Climate change can affect our health, ability to grow food, housing, safety, and work. Some of us are already more vulnerable to climate impacts, such as people living in small island nations and other developing countries.
Conditions like sea-level rise and saltwater intrusion have advanced to the point where whole communities have had to relocate, and protracted droughts are putting people at risk of famine. In the future, the number of “climate refugees” is expected to rise.
Every increase in global warming matters
In a series of UN reports, thousands of scientists and government reviewers agreed that limiting global temperature rise to no more than 1.5°C would help us avoid the worst climate impacts and maintain a livable climate. Yet policies currently in place point to a 2.8°C temperature rise by the end of the century.
The emissions that cause climate change come from every part of the world and affect everyone, but some countries produce much more than others. The 100 least-emitting countries generate 3 percent of total emissions. The 10 countries with the largest emissions contribute 68 percent.
Everyone must take action on climate change, but the people and countries creating more of the problem have a greater responsibility to act first.
We face a huge challenge but already know many solutions
Many climate change solutions can deliver economic benefits while improving our lives and protecting the environment. We also have global frameworks and agreements to guide progress, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Paris Agreement.
Three broad categories of action are: cutting emissions, adapting to climate impacts, and financing required adjustments. Switching energy systems from fossil fuels to renewables like solar or wind will reduce the emissions driving climate change.
But we have to start right now. While a growing coalition of countries is committing to net zero emissions by 2050, about half of the emissions cuts must be in place by 2030 to keep warming below 1.5°C. Fossil fuel production must decline by roughly 6 percent per year between 2020 and 2030.
Growing coalition
Adapting to climate consequences protects people, homes, businesses, livelihoods, infrastructure, and natural ecosystems. It covers current impacts and those likely in the future. Adaptation will be required everywhere.
Floods
Floods can happen for several reasons, many of which coincide. However, excessive and heavy rainfall is one of the leading causes of floods, mainly when flash floods occur.
Floods occur when the rate of rain in low-lying areas and urban settings exceeds the capacity of the ground to absorb it.
Extreme rainfall in river courses also contributes to flooding. This is because it causes water to flow down riverbanks and spill over onto adjacent land. Floods may result from sea overflow, which is also referred to as a storm surge.
This happens when weather events cause seawater to overflow onto the land in coastal regions. Storm surges have been known to cause sea levels to rise by 20 feet. Rapid melting of snow and ice results in a similar surge in sea level, and blocks of melting ice can obstruct a river’s flow, a condition known as ice jams.
Recorded on Earth
Let’s take a look back at the top 6 most devastating floods ever recorded to have occurred on Earth.
Rank Flood Name Location
1 Great Drowning of Men (1219): British Isles, The Netherlands, Germany
2 The Johnstown Flood (1889) Johnstown, Pennsylvania
3 1887 Yellow River Flood Qing, China
4 Yangtze River Flood (1931) China
5 1975 Banqiao Dam Failure Henan, China
6 The North Sea Flood (1953) The Netherlands, Belgium, England, and Scotland
How do floods affect agriculture?
The standing crops become submerged and cause a big loss in production; seedlings become damaged, and the crops at their final stage become logged, causing a loss like that of the floods in Pakistan in 1992, 2010, and most recently 2022 Dec that caused a 40 to 50 % reduction in the yield of cotton, so we imported almost 7 to 8 million bales of cotton.
Increase temperature
Earth’s temperature has risen by an average of 0.14° Fahrenheit (0.08° Celsius) per decade since 1880, or about 2° F in total. The rate of warming since 1981 is more than twice as fast: 0.32° F (0.18° C) per decade.
This causes the reduction in total yield and shrivelling of grain, like in 2022 wheat losses in Pakistan due to heat, and recently, after heavy rains, increased temperatures cause a favourable environment for rust and other diseases. We think that a human can not bear such a great fluctuation in the environmental climate; how can a plant survive in this worst condition.
Rainfall
Irregular rain falls in the world cause a decrease in the productivity of agriculture because standing crops are submerged and cause a loss in yield after rain and wind have damaged the crops. We saw in this chapter of history a lot of well established civilizations suffer damage due to climate change.
Desertification
Desertification is the process by which vegetation in drylands, i.e., arid and semi-arid lands, such as grasslands or shrublands, decreases and eventually disappears.
Human activities that contribute to desertification include the expansion and intensive use of agricultural lands, poor irrigation practises, deforestation, and overgrazing. Additional savannas, grasslands, and woodlands are common indications of desertification in arid and semi-arid areas.
Well-known examples of this occurrence include Europe’s Adriatic Sea, the Middle-East’s Saharan desert, and China’s Taklamakan Desert.
Loss of biodiversity by worsening the living conditions of many species. Food insecurity around the world is due to crop failure or reduced yields. The loss of vegetation cover and therefore food for livestock and humans. Increased risk of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19.
Estimated loss of agriculture due to climate change
It is predicted that by 2040, as the temperature goes up, agricultural production will reduce by around 8–10% (Cradock-Henry et al., 2020). Our research model, which includes the use of the crop growth simulation method, estimates a reduction in crop yield, particularly in rice and wheat.
Agriculture is a major source of GHGs, which contribute to the greenhouse effect and climate change. However, the changing climate is having far reaching impacts on agricultural production, which are likely to challenge the food security of the world in the future.
Food security in the world relies on both sufficient food production and food access and is defined as a state in which all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life’ (FAO, 1996).
The principal barrier in world to food security is currently food access. Globally, sufficient food is produced to feed the current world population, yet more than 10% of the population is undernourished.
Climate change is likely to contribute substantially to the food security of the world in the future by increasing food prices and reducing food production. Food may become more expensive as climate change mitigation efforts increase energy prices. Water required for food production may become more scarce due to increased crop water use and drought.
Competition for land may increase as certain areas become climatically unsuitable for production. In addition, extreme weather events associated with climate change may cause sudden reductions in agricultural productivity, leading to rapid price increases.
For example, heat waves in the summer of 2010 led to yield losses in key production areas, including Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, and contributed to a dramatic increase in the price of staple foods. These rising prices forced growing numbers of local people into poverty, providing a sobering demonstration of how the influence of climate change can result in food security around the world.
The consensus of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is that substantial climate change has already occurred since the 1950s and that it’s likely the global mean surface air temperature will increase by 0.4 to 2.6°C in the second half of this century (depending on future greenhouse gas emissions). Agriculture and the wider food production system are already major sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
Future intensification of agriculture to compensate for reduced production (partly caused by climate change) along with an increasing demand for animal products could further increase these emissions. It’s estimated that the demand for livestock products will grow by 70% between 2005 and 2050.
While gradual increases in temperature and carbon dioxide may result in more favourable conditions that could increase the yields of some crops, in some regions, these potential yield increases are likely to be restricted by extreme events, particularly extreme heat and drought, during crop flowering.
Crop production is projected to decrease in many areas during the 21st century because of climatic changes.
Heat waves (periods of extremely high temperatures) are likely to become more frequent in the future and represent a major challenge for agriculture. Heat waves can cause heat stress in both animals and plants and have a negative impact on food production.
Extreme periods of high temperature are particularly harmful for crop production if they occur when the plants are flowering; if this single, critical stage is disrupted, there may be no seeds at all. In animals, heat stress can result in lower productivity and fertility, and it can also have negative effects on the immune system, making them more susceptible to certain diseases.
Evidence for an increase in heat waves exists due to the warming that has already occurred and the greater than expected increases in heat wave frequency and magnitude.
It is difficult to make accurate predictions about the future frequency and magnitude of heat waves, but there is consensus among projections that measurements for both will continue to increase in the UK, in Europe, and on a global scale.
The impact of heat waves is expected to be non-uniform, with disproportionately negative effects in less developed countries.
Together with other aspects of climate change such as increased drought incidence, Projected changes in climate are not limited to increases in temperature and heat waves; large changes in rainfall patterns are also expected to occur.
While some regions are likely to suffer from more droughts in the future, other regions are expected to face the opposing issues of torrential rains and increased flooding. In coastal areas, rising sea levels may result in the complete loss of agricultural land.
Warmer climates may also lead to more problems from pests and diseases and shifts in the geographical distribution of certain pests. For example, insects that serve as a vector for disease transmission are likely to migrate further north in the future, where livestock have so far not been exposed to these diseases.
The responses of yield to various stresses have been well defined through experimentation in many crops. Quantifying these responses and identifying when agriculture is most vulnerable to stress is beneficial in helping to identify the most efficient strategies for adaptation.
Crop-level adaptation to climate change is expected to be key to minimising future yield losses and may involve changing crop cultivars, sowing times, cultivation techniques, and/or irrigation practises.
Ongoing research is addressing the challenges of maintaining and/or increasing crop production under global change. Some risks to crop production from climate change and extreme weather events have been identified, and strategies have been suggested to help maintain production.
These include: restoring farm type, crop, or cultivar scale diversity into food systems, to improve their resilience and making crop improvements that enhance stress tolerance. Other strategies may include developing pre-defined, international responses to food shortages in order to prevent food price shocks that might reduce people’s access to food.